Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787)

Benavides-Montaño, Javier Antonio, Betancourt-Echeverri, Jesus Antonio, Valencia, Gustavo López & Mesa-Cobo, Nora Cristina, 2022, A review of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Colombia: The risk of tick-borne diseases, Persian Journal of Acarology 11 (3), pp. 397-437 : 399

Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787)

These ticks are distributed from Argentina to Southern Texas ( U.S. A) with the exception of Chile and Uruguay, where they have not been confirmed, as well as in the Caribbean and the Nearctic region ( Barros-Battesti et al. 2006). Species of Amblyomma cajennense s.l. are probably one of the most threatening plagues to cattle farms considering their physical damage potential, natural biological cycle and the likelihood of immature stages being dispersed by birds and wild and domestic mammals as well as their vector capacity to transmit different rickettsia species in South America. They are widely distributed and able to feed on a wide range of mammals, humans and birds ( Guglielmone et al. 2006; Lopez 2017). Amblyomma cajennense s.l. comprises six species: 1. A. cajennense sensu stricto (s.s.) (Fabricius, 1787), 2. A. interandinum Nava et al., 2014 , 3. A. mixtum Koch, 1844 , 4. A. patinoi Nava et al., 2014 , 5. A. sculptum Berlese, 1888 , and 6. A. tonelliae Nava et al., 2014 ( Nava et al. 2014; Martins et al. 2016). These species are geographically distributed as follows: A. cajennense s.s. is restricted to Amazon regions; A. mixtum has been located from Texas to western Equator; A. sculptum is restricted to north Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil; A. interandinum ( Nava et al. 2014) is restricted to inter-Andean valley of Peru; A. tonelliae ( Nava et al. 2014) is indigenous to dry areas of north Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay; and A. patinoi ( Nava et al. 2014) is found in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia ( Beati et al. 2013; Nava et al. 2014; Lopez 2017). In Colombia, the species of A. cajennense s.l. are specifically represented by two species: A. patinoi Labruna, Nava & Beati, 2014 , which can be found in the Eastern Andes of Colombia, and A. mixtum , which is distributed from Texas ( U.S. A) to western Ecuador. A. cajennense s.l. seems to thrive in the lowlands (average: 472.9 m a.s.l.), but its populations can also be found up to 1,771 m a.s.l. (Acevedo-Gutiérrez LY et al. 2018).